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If my phone number is (212)555-1212 and Bob spoofs my number vias SMS to Alice, will Alice's reply be sent to Bob, me or both?

EDIT: The concern is that the spoof prompts Alice to disclose information that Bob should not have.

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Sent to you. Bob is simply spoofing your number not replacing/sharing it with you on the phone network. He can send on your behalf but not (as far as I know, or at least as easily) receive on your behalf.

EDIT: The only way this appears to be possible in such a way that Bob spoofs a number and can send and receive messages on the spoofed number is with much more unique software that generates "virtual SIM's" (as they called them) using fake, un-registered numbers.

Example of send and receive on spoofed number service using fake number.

The more common SMS spoofing in-which the spoof'er piggy-backs off a real number, they can only send not receive as all they are doing is manipulating the SMS headers.

A couple resources I found that cover this:

Guy strangely receiving phone calls and SMS complaints from people saying he called them when he did not.

Q/A site where some asked about a semi-related question.

Sorry about lacking technical quality in these resources, this is not a very well formally documented "attack" since it appears every service that does SMS spoofing does it a little different than the last.

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  • Is this from experience or is there a reference to cite?
    – gatorback
    Feb 1, 2018 at 21:15
  • Some experience messing with SMS spoofing but more based on knowledge of equivalent situation with IP address spoofing. I can (try) to dig up a source to back this claim though. Give me a few minutes, I shall return.
    – dFrancisco
    Feb 1, 2018 at 21:17
  • What does it mean "SMS spoofing"? Did you do it yourself (hack a sim card) or use someone else's framework (use a website with a form where you enter spoof number and text)? Because I am concerned you might not know how the system works underneath.
    – user169799
    Feb 1, 2018 at 21:49
  • The common terminology of SMS spoofing means the following: Bob, Alice and John are all people with cell phones. Bob and Alice are friends in each-others contact lists, John is evil. John wants to send a message to Alice that looks like it came from Bob saying "I hate you". Using some publicly available apps and websites (often free) John can "spoof" his phone number and an SMS to Alice in such a way Alice see's the message as it came from Bob when really it came from John. Bob is un-aware any of this happened.
    – dFrancisco
    Feb 1, 2018 at 21:52
  • John spoofs a message to Alice that appears to be from Bob. The message is designed to nudge Alice into revealing her hand and revealing information she would not normally telegraph.
    – gatorback
    Feb 1, 2018 at 23:07

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